Metal of Valor
by Bloody Wolfenstein
Summary: No war was won by one man, but by the lives of many. Across the fields of Europe many nations would unite, to reach one goal.........Berlin
1. El Alamein, The Turning Point

Location-El Alamein Time-10:30AM  
  
The cannons cracked as German 88flaks fired off from hillsides at the advancing British forces. Field Marshal Montgomery watched from his jeep as his Shermans rolled forward to El Alamein, the vantage point would allow them to enter Libya and give a safe landing zone for the American forces both in Africa and in France.  
  
"Them damn Jerries are holding better then I would have thought." Montgomery rubbed his chin as he calculated the whole situation at hand. The flaks were pounding the advance forces and Montgomery hand nothing to return fire but his tanks. The Spitfires and Tornadoes couldn't be brought in since German subs were in control of the Mediterranean and had sunk countless British ships. "Many a fine men went into the sea."  
  
Major Louis Rutherford stood by the Sherman he and his crew operated. The tan hull matched the desert terrain they were stuck in. "Poor boys back in Egypt, I'm surprised they haven't fallen already"  
  
Colonel Zack Pulaski walked up, a set of binoculars hanging from his red furred neck. "They are British my boy. They will hold till their last breath."  
  
"Well I hope they don't have to." Louis took his cap off and wiped his brow "Bloody heat doesn't help"  
  
"Neither do those flaks" Pulaski noted the cracks of the mighty cannons in the distance.  
  
A sergeant ran up to them and saluted. They returned it "Orders from Major General Yorkston! You are to move Shermans up as reserve for the 28th Infantry Regiment and harass those flak crews as best you can. The 28th will commandeer the flaks."  
  
Colonel Pulaski placed his helmet on "Tell Major General Yorkston I request we bring the tank destroys up and use them for long range shooting. See what we can nail."  
  
The Sergeant clicked his heels, saluted, and ran off to deliver the message. Louis looked at Pulaski "Ski, you sure do like harassing York."  
  
"Nah, just slapping em one on the back" The two laughed as they readied up.  
  
Time: 3:48PM  
  
Shermans rolled up and over a ridge. The flaks were behind them, smoldering heaps of junk now. The tanks fired shots off at the retreating Germans, bodies being hurled into the air by each deadly shot. Many threw theirs guns down and ran to the tanks, arms raised. Louis estimated that already they had taken 200 POW's. "Not a bad number" He muttered to himself as the tanks rolled on.  
  
Louis stood out of the hatch of his Sherman as he observed the field ahead. The area further up was a village where planes were taking off from, German planes "Bloody hell! Dive bombers!" Louis dropped into his tank and locked the hatch. Soon cannons cracked as they took shots at the dive bombers coming in. Louis began to hear the familiar whistling of bombs dropping, only being masked by the sudden and loud engine drones of the dive bombers which would quickly fade off as they flew off. "Brace yourselves boys!"  
  
The crew grabbed the safety handles in the tank and waited. Soon the ground shook from the bombing runs; their tank lurched under the attack. Suddenly the tank lifted upward and rolled about before landing on its tracks again. Louis heard the engines drone off. He popped out of his hatch to check for damage. The haul was charred slightly but rather okay. A near by Sherman had its front end in the ground and its cannon twisted. Louis counted five Shermans blown to pits and another three burning, luckily the crews had gotten out safely.  
  
He then noticed that Panzer tanks were on their way from the base, a good fifteen coming. Ten Panthers and five Panzer Mark IV's. "Ready up! Pound them before they get down the hill!" The Shermans opened fire on the incoming Panzers, five were destroyed before the lead reached the bottom of the hill. Cannons roared as the tanks exchanged fire at each other. Louis heard the familiar loud crack of the tank destroyers' cannons as they fired off. One shell hit a Panzer Mark IV under the gun turret, ripping the turret off the haul, flames and smoke spewed out from the dead tank.  
  
Louis then ordered a full charge of the Shermans. Three more Panzers were killed and that was enough. The crews of the rest jumped out and surrendered. Soon the Shermans were in the village and the few remaining Nazis surrendered. The battle of El Alamein had been won.  
  
Time: 9:12PM  
  
Louis sat at the table in his tent looking over reports, tallying up numbers on those killed, those wounded and those missing in action. He sighed as those killed was close in total to those wounded, four-hundred men wounded and 387 dead. This was not good but then again out of 2,348 men going it was better then the Nazi total which had 1,946 dead out of 3,450.  
  
A cup of coffee was set on his desk. He looked up at Pulaski who smiled. "Take it easy there boy. You are going to be seeing numbers for days on end if you over do it."  
  
Louis rubbed his eyes as he sipped at the coffee "I know Ski, but it has to be done. Yanks are arriving and we will be handing command over to them as we turn our focus toward Sicily."  
  
Pulaski laughed "Good point. Yanks get to clean up the remains while we spearhead, go figure."  
  
"Don't be jumpy there Ski. Yanks saved us in the Big One and they are doing it again now. We right well have lost the war if not for them coming in."  
  
"They would have sat and waited for Hitler to march to their doors if not the Japos had attack them first."  
  
Louis nodded.  
  
"By and by, you got a nickname for yourself Ford."  
  
"Oh? And what would that be?"  
  
"They are calling you Knuckles for your punches you threw at them Jerries."  
  
Louis laughed at the nickname. "I'm sure Brigadier General Charlie thinks he is funny eh?"  
  
Pulaski laughed "I'm sure he does think that. Ol' Charlie likes to take pokes at us all."  
  
"Even pokes at Monty."  
  
"Charlie has bullocks that he does."  
  
Field Marshal Montgomery wiped his hands as he looked over the map he had laid out before General George Patton arrived. "Hot headed Yankee I hear that Patton is" Montgomery was speaking out loud rather then at anyone. He rubbed his muzzle.  
  
"Need a shave there Monty?" Charlie, the orange furred fox asked as he chewed on some bread. He looked at Montgomery. What a man! He was handsome, tall, had fine brown fur amongst foxes, smart, and had a demeanor that called for respect and he got it.  
  
"Right after you Lee." Montgomery replied.  
  
Charlie laughed out loud as he finished his bread. "Wonder what the boys are doing back home."  
  
"Fixing up London I would think"  
  
Charlie recalled the massive German assault on England that lasted for forty days straight. Many died but even more lived. The Royal Air Force had won the skies over England and drove the Luftwaffe back to mainland Europe. "Good point ol' chap. We be getting a crack at those Italians soon. Kind of sad though."  
  
"How so?!" The two looked at the tent entrance and saw the burly form of Patton. His revolvers on both hips, his dog face stern, his uniform clean.  
  
"Well. . ." Charlie was at a lost of words.  
  
"Those damn fascist bastards decide to ally with the Krauts then that is their problem!"  
  
Charlie saluted. "Yes sir!"  
  
Patton looked at the map. "So what is the set up Monty?"  
  
Montgomery looked at the map and the markers on it. "Well the Jerries have been driven back to this pass here." He pointed. "Bloody fools have dug in and are set to take us on with a frontal assault. Looks tough to crack Pat."  
  
Patton nodded "Tough, but not impossible. We will crack them whether they like it or not! What about those damn French? They back off of us?"  
  
Montgomery smiled "Good news there Pat. The French have backed off and are getting themselves set to revolt gainst the Jerries."  
  
Patton nodded, but he wondered what would be the result of Operation Overload which was still in the planning phases.  
  
Louis sat in the passenger seat of a half track. He had been awarded a metal for his courage in the battle of El Alamein. He smiled as he watched the dark road ahead, the headlights lighting up a small bit off road further on. Louis yawned as he scratched his chin. They where moving toward a harbor and from there. . . . .Sicily, the island just off of the Italian coast and. . . . . . the war torn European fronts.  
  
Part 2  
  
The Luftwaffe goes for a final crack at England and the Royal Air Force has a lack of planes and pilots. The skies are about to become war torn in: The Battle of Britain, Flying Graves 


	2. Battle of Britain, Flying Graves

Battle of Britain, Flying Graves  
  
Sirens wailed loudly as pilots scrambled to their planes. It was another practice drill. The Royal Air Force pilots had many. . . Another attack by the Luftwaffe was intimate. . .Everyone knew it.  
  
Pvt. Miles Prower was new. . .a reserve pilot brought in do to the loss of many other pilots. RAF had few Spitfires and Hurricanes left. Either they were shot down or sent to do air raids over France and drop food supplies to the hidden Free French forces.  
  
Prower inspected his plane. He checked the engine, the fuse tank, the rotor, the machine gun, the bomb load, and the landing gear. "Mighty good job you do maintaining your Spitfire Prower."  
  
Prower smiled his childish smile. . .then again. . .He was only fourteen and was a pilot for the Crown. "Thank you sir" He saluted. "I try my best."  
  
"Hope you can do your best in the air. Them Jerries will be coming sooner then later."  
  
Just then the siren went off, but this was from the nearby city of Brighton. Prower and Captain Evan Waters looked out to the sky and sure as hell, in the distance was the figure of German bombers, Stukas and 109E- 3's.  
  
Waters ran off to his plain while Prower scrambled into his cockpit and closed it. He then started up the engine and waited for two other planes to take off before he took off and into the air.  
  
Prower looked back and saw ten other British planes in the air and he sighed in relief. He returned his gaze forward and gulped, "So many. . ."  
  
"Look alive boys!" Waters's voice crackled over the headgear. "Spitfires, you take out the fighters, Hurricanes, down those bloody bombers!" Prower pushed his Spitfire faster forward. Soon bullets whistled by from the gunners on the bombers. Prower banked left between two bombers as a wave of 109E-3's flew at him, guns blazing.  
  
Prower came about on the port side of another bomber, the top gunner saw him and began to bring his guns about. Prower pressed hard on the trigger and sprayed the turret full of lead. Prower passed by and looked over his shoulder to see the gunner dead. Prower then knew right then and there what this would all be like. "Prower! You got one on your tail!" Prower looked behind him and saw the Stuka coming in. Bullets whizzed by and Prower ducked into his seat, afraid one would hit him in the back of the head.  
  
Prower weaved in and out of the sluggish bombers, hoping to lose the pilot, but this Shepard was good. He kept right on the fast Spitfire's tail. Prower felt his plane jerk hard and he knew a shot had hit him. He then noticed a bomber being shot at and its engines explode. The large craft began to lurch forward as it started to fall. Prower flew between its nose and the tail of a nearby bomber. The pilot behind him tried to bank left but his wing was torn off upon hitting the nose of the bomber which crashed into the tail of another bomber, sending it falling to the beach below.  
  
Prower sighed with relief then noticed a fellow pilot with two fighters on his tail. Prower dove in and fired off, one fighter exploded and the other pulled out then began to spin out as the wing flap on the starboard wing flew off.  
  
Prower flew over a bomber and pressed a button on the throttle and dropped a bomb into the top gunner. An explosion roared which was then followed by a load of explosions. The bomber blew up into pieces along with a passing by Stuka. "They are almost over Brighton!" Captain Waters yelled through the headphones.  
  
Prower banked off north following a few other Spitfires. The group turned back toward the on coming threat and formed a screen as they fired off into the swarm, taking down what they could before getting into the middle of it all. Prower saw a Spitfire's tail burst into flames. The pilot couldn't even go to kicked open the canopy before his plane crashed into the cockpit of a bomber. The large craft began to fall, and in its fall it exploded upon the flames reaching the bombs. Prower then saw objects falling rapidly. "What the bloody hell?. . ." He then noticed they were over land and over the airport. "Shit! Those are bombs!" Prower then felt his plane jerk hard and saw smoke coming off of his left wing. He fought to stay airborne and was able to fire a round into the open hatch of a bomber and destroy it before his plane began to fall.  
  
Prower looked back on the battle zone and saw a Spitfire blow up. He looked forward and pulled back on the throttle. Prower was able to land his plane in a field. He got out and looked at the sky then gasped, more bombers and fighter planes were coming in. He gasped again as he saw figures dropping out and parachutes being opened. Prower watched as Hitler was succeeding in his dream. . .landing on British shores. . .  
  
Part 3  
  
The Nazis have driven deep into the Motherland up to the Volga. Stalin has called for a final push back against the fascist bastards. Stalingrad, the city named after the communist dictator, will become war torn in: The Battle of Stalingrad, Blood of the Red Army 


	3. Battle of Stalingrad: Blood of the Red A...

Battle of Stalingrad: Blood of the Red Army  
  
The Nazis have driven deep into the Motherland! Robbing, killing, and raping the Soviet people! It is time to drive them back in our last hope of regaining the Motherland!  
  
The boats lurched slowly across the Volga River. Smoke covered the skies, and what it didn't cover, was covered by clouds. It was not a good sign but then again there was no choice but to await the inevitable fate that was theirs. Boats of echidnas, tigers, and Siberian huskies made their way as aquatic mines took out some boats or the Luftwaffe did.  
  
"Not much to do but wait and die" An orange furred echidna said as he adjusted his green uniform.  
  
"Not exactly the best spirit to take." A husky said then coughed.  
  
Lieutenant Jack King stood on the side of the boat with other commissars. In his hand was a Luger which he had aimed at the troops in the boat, ready to shoot anyone of them that dared attempt to escape. He looked at Major Khevdor Speratti. "Be arriving less we are shot eh comrade?"  
  
Speratti laughed "Ya!" Suddenly they could hear the roar of engines and looked to the sky. Three Stukas were incoming. "Dive bombers!"  
  
The troops tried to duck as best they could under the sudden burst of fire. One commissar fell into the pit of the boat with the troops, dead. Two other troops were killed. Troops began to try to escape.  
  
A troop got up near King and in quick response King shot him between the eyes and threw his body out of the boat. Another three were shot in the water by a commissar with a PPSh. The rest didn't attempt to flee.  
  
The boat landed at the dock and King dismounted and waved his Luger as he pushed troops into lines to receive Mosin-Nagants. King got onto the crates and yelled out, "The man with the rifle shoots! The man without the rifle follows! The man with the rifle gets shot! The man without the rifle takes up the rifle and shoots!" King looked toward the slope that led into Stalingrad and watched as troops were shredded under machine gun fire. Those that tried to retreat were shot by waiting commissars. He focused on the lines and watched more men and even women get pushed into the lines.  
  
King got off the boxes and rounded up a ready group with a flag bearer. "For the Motherland!" He yelled, getting a cheer out of them. The group followed King in as he charged the hill and with out delay the machine gun fire came raining down on them. King dove behind a wall where a radio sergeant was communicating to the home base across the Volga. Suddenly a Stuka came flying in and instantly took out a large group of Soviets in the open and some hidden behind walls.  
  
King grabbed the sergeant by the collar, "Take that damn thing out!"  
  
"I'm trying to get rid of those on the hilltop sir!"  
  
King let him go and looked around. He needed a way to get Soviets in closer but how? He saw it in one form, a charge under some form of cover. Now he needed the cover. . .thunder crackled above as rain began to fall. "NOW!" King ran forth with other Soviets as they fired off and started to make it over the hill and into Stalingrad. Just as they got past the first block they halted. . . cause awaiting them was a Panzer Mark IV. King grabbed the nearest person and dove into a building. He heard the cannon fire and debris flew, along screams and bodies.  
  
"Thank you sir."  
  
"It was a natural reaction." King looked at who he saved. It was a young female echidna with golden fur and very lovely eyes. She had on the standard green uniform of the Soviets and a helmet. King blinked. "What is your name comrade?"  
  
"Tikal Zinoviia sir."  
  
King nodded. He looked outside and saw the Panzer Mark IV going down another road. He could see some Soviets making it through the city, but still they were being taken out by mass German troops, tanks, or snipers.  
  
"Sir?" King looked at her. "Do you know of any way to get through the city? I'm unarmed. . ."  
  
"Hmmm." King rubbed his chin. "All we can do is run and hope to find a supply point where those fascist bastards have stored weapons."  
  
King and Tikal ran out of the building and into the open along with other Soviets. They hid in an alley and waited for some transporters to go by before running out again. They made it to a small depot where the Nazis had stored some tanks. King smiled "I have an idea."  
  
Minutes later the two were in a Tiger tank and rolling out into the city. Tikal was driving while King loaded and fired the cannon. "Sir! I see a division of lorries."  
  
"Fall in line with them and get ready to man the machine gun." Tikal moved the tank in behind the lorries and waited for them to get near a squad of Russians. King fired off a shot and blew the front truck up. Tikal quickly moved from the driver seat to the machine gunner's seat and fired off on any German she could pin. The Russians got the idea and charged off the on the Germans, beating them by fist and taking their weapons. King popped out of the hatch and got more Russians to fill the tank. Tikal stayed as the driver while the machine gunner was filled and two Russians took on the task of loading and firing.  
  
King stood out of the hatch and watched the battle as the tank rolled on through the streets. "Fire at that building!" King yelled as he ducked from sniper fire. The cannon was raised and fired, blasting a hole in the building and sending Germans flying out.  
  
Fires erupted from gasoline tanks on lorries being blown up. Nazis were in retreat as their heavy weaponry was put out of use or was destroyed. "We are running low on shells sir!" King looked at the loaders and rubbed his chin.  
  
"Well then we need to drive the Germans far out of here and fast. Tikal, you know where the train station is?"  
  
"I know what you want sir!" King smiled. If they could take the train station they could cut off most the German offense and drive away the rest.  
  
The train station was all ready being assaulted by ten Soviets against one- hundred Germans. King walked through the halls of the train station with his tank crew. King saw a Nazi moving across an intersection in the hallway and shot him in the leg. Before he could shoot him again a shot rang off from behind him and pinned the Nazi in the head. Tikal popped out the shell she used and replaced the bolt back.  
  
King smiled. "Nice shot. Let's keep going." The small group proceeded onward. Soon the sound of gunfire came to their ears and they ran to a broken window and saw the group of Russians fighting off the Germans to the best of their abilities. King looked for something to even the odds and saw an mg on one of the steel catwalks that overlooked the train yard. "Take that mg!" King and two others ran in while Tikal and the machine gunner used the rifles they had obtained to pick of Nazi troops.  
  
King and his two escorts obtained the mg soon and remounted it on the other side. They opened fire on the Nazis in the train yard and took down a fair load before the rest dropped their rifles and sub machine guns and surrendered.  
  
A few minutes later, King and his small band of troops ate some bread and had water. King looked over the prisoners they had captured. Twenty-four total. King walked off to check a nearby building for anyone inside. Tikal followed him.  
  
King looked about the building and found only a small bed and a desk. "Train conductor's office I would suppose." He muttered.  
  
"Sir?" King looked behind him and saw Tikal.  
  
"Yes comrade?"  
  
"I noticed blood coming from your uniform."  
  
"It's nothing, just a small shot."  
  
Tikal sat him on the bed and took off his long coat and uniform underneath. She looked at the wound. "Bullet went through. She took some clothe out of her pouch and treated his wound some. King watched her in silence.  
  
"So tell me about yourself."  
  
"Well. . ." Tikal started wrapping the wound up. "My family died in the bombing runs so I was made an orphan."  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"14. . ."  
  
King nodded. "I'm 30. You are very gorgeous for a 14 year old."  
  
Tikal blushed. "There, all better." King smiled at her, making her blush more. King took her helmet off allowing her hair to fall down from under the helmet. He rubbed her cheek gently. "You remind me of my niece, she was a lovely girl." King sighed. He closed his deep blue eyes and stood up, his dreads swaying as he moved. "I wish I could have saved her." He placed his coat and long over coat on. The two walked outside and could hear the echoes of gunfire still ahead.  
  
King placed his cap back on his gray hair and opened his eyes. "I couldn't save her, but retribution is something I can still offer for her!"  
  
The Russian offense had finally begun. . .  
  
Part 4  
  
American troops are making a landing in England to help rebel the Germans, but they have to do so in one night and must eliminate all Germans so as to prevent Berlin from knowing of American intervention in the war. Next up: Night of the Gold Eagles: Invasion of Europe at hand. 


End file.
